“Was blind, but now I see”

Orin Kerr of the Volokh Conspiracy points to this remarkable essay by a “human shield’ whose experience in Iraq changed his mind. I have to give the author credit for being able to change his mind in the face of new information and willing to say so in public. Still, how could anyone really have doubted the totalitarian nature of the Iraqi regime?

Stories like this one are one reason I get so unreasonably upset about political and journalistic (including bloggic) mendacity. After a while, it creates a situation in which intelligent people can entertain doubt about the most transparently obvious facts. Only an unbending commitment to “saying the thing that is” can keep us sane in a complex world.